Process of treating the candelilla-plant for the recovery of wax.



w. s. WATSON. PROCESS 0I' TREATING THB GANDELILLA PLANT FOB THE RECOVERY0F WAX.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 22, 1911. l

Patented 0ct.29, 1912.

IN VEN 70H arri/iran;

,4m/mns UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEioE.

WINFIELD S. WATSON, OF MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE.

PROCESS OF TREATING 'TI-IE CANDELILLA-PLANT FOR THE RECOVERY 0F WAX.

To all whom it may concern: y

Be it known that I, WINFIELD S. WATsoN, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Memphis, in the county of Shelby and State ofTennessee, have made certain new and useful Improvements in Processes ofTreating the Candelilla-Plant for the Recoi-'ery of Wax, of which thefollowing is a specification.v

My invention relates to improvements in pro-cess of treating thecandelilla plant for the recovery of wax, and it consists in the varioussteps set forth.

An object of my-invention is to provide a process for treating thecandelilla plantl in order to recover' the wax which it contains andleave the plant in such a condition that it may be used subsequently forfuel. v

A further object of my invention is to provide. a process for dryheating the plant and for subsequently treating the plant b-y dry steam,with a final treatment of water.

A further object of'my invention is to provide a process by means ofwhich the wax, which adheres tenaciously to the plant may beeconomically recovered withoutI the use of chemicals.

A further object of my invention 1s to provide a simple process by meansof which the wax may be recovered without any danger of overheating theplant to the point of destructive distillation.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the following specificationand the novel features of the invention will be particularly pointed outin the appended claims.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings" forming partof this application in which- Figure 1 is a vertical section throughthe.device, and Fig. 2 is a horizontal section along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1,the shrubs being omitted for the sake of clearness.

The candelilla plant isla shrub which is found in the semi-arid regionsof Mexico and in the southwestern parts of the United States andcontains a great deal of wax, of

.high melting point. This wax appears on the growing plant on theoutside, and in the pores of the bark of the plant. The green plantcontains 70% of moisture. The 'wax cannot be.l satisfactorily obtainedinthe ordinary wayby boiling or steaming, since it will melt into avarnish-like mass which will stick to the plant tenaciously and whichthe Specification of Letters Patent.

Application led July 22, 1911.

Patented oet. 29,1912. serial No. 639,963.

water or steam will not easily remove. For this reason other methodshave to be employed.

In carrying outy my invention, I provide a casing 1 which constitutesthe outer wall of a boiler, the inner wall being formed bythe wall 3.Below the boiler is a fire box 4 and at the rear is a flue 5. Beneaththe crown sheet 6 of the boiler is a coiled tube 7 which has branches 7aand 7b extending up through the flue 5. The cylindrical casing 8 formedby the annular walls of the boiler provides a receptacle for aperforated holder 9 which is arranged to receive the shrubs or plants10. This holder is portable and may be liftedout by means of chains 11attached to the top. While I have shown only one of these holders, itwill be understood that in practice a plurality of the holders andboilers are used. The upper part of the receptacle 8 may loe` covered bya closure 12. l

The receptacle Sis provided with a pipe 13 having a valve 13 and a trap14. The trap 1s connected with a condenser 15. The receptacle 8 may beput in communication with the boiler by means of a pipe 16 which 1sprovided with valves 1(3l and 1Gb. The branch 7b of the coil 7 may beconnected with the boiler by means of a pipe 17 and valve 17a. A ypipe18 having a valve 18 leads from the receptacle 8 into the condenser 15.

From the foregoing description of the various parts of the device theoperation thereof may be readily understood.

The plants are first placed in the holder 9 in the manner shown inFig. 1. This holder is then lowered into the Yreceptacle 8.

The water in the boiler is heated to approxiassumes the form of bubbleshaving a frothy appearance on the stems. The expandingv moisture has atendency 'to force the bubbles downward to the open aperture at the baseof the receptacle. Part of the Wax 1nv this melted state runs down,passing out throughv the pipe 13 into the wax trap 14 from whence-it maybe drawn off.- The cock 7 -is opened permitting the dry steam of theboiler t'o enter the coil 7'L where 1t' 1s super-heated and thissuperheatedpdry steam This turns the water ofthe is permitted to escapefrom the upper end of the pipe 7", the stop cock 7c being turned topermit fitsxentrance into the receptacle 8. The dry. steam serves thepurpose of immediately raising the temperature of the shrubs to aconsiderably higher point and the steam passing through the mass ofshrubs carries with it the wax. The steam and wax are carried out.`through the pipe 13, the wax being trapped oli inthe trap 14, the steambeing condensed in the condenser 15. It will be -notedthat theseparation of the wax from the shrub is accomplished partly by heat and-partly by the actual Contact of the dry' steam with the bubbles of wax,the

.steam forcing .the waX downwardly. After `the plants have beensubjected to the dry steam vthe .cock 17 a is opened and water flowsfrom'the, boiler through the pipe 17 into the coil' 7l and thence bymeans of the pipe I 7b onto .the shrubs in the holder 9, thismovementzof the water being occasioned by through the pipe 13 into thecondenser 15,

f into the condenser 15.

thewaxbeing trapped ott at the trap 14. By the meansjust described thegreater portion of the wax is procured. Some of the wax however will becarried by the steam y The condensed water in the condenser 15 may bedrawn off at the faucet 15a and the solidified wax may be recovered fromthe condenser. The wax inv the condenser 15 contains considerablemoisture, which may be' expelled -by gathering the solidified' wax,placing it in the reeeptac le8..and heating. The stop cock 18*al isopened `and the moisture is allowed to pass vthrough the pipe 1S intothe condenser 15,. the melted wax running through the pipe 13 Y'andbeing trapped oi at the trap Mas described. By opening the cocks 16a andllfof therpipe 16 the water in the boiler may befdr'iyen through thepipe 16 to 'wash out' the receptacle 8.

rThe shrubs from which the wax has been extracted form an excellent fuelwhich in a barren country is a very important. item.

Gages G and G are provided for'indicating the height of the water intheboiler.

In order to facilitate the out-flow of wax the holder 9 is perforated asshown at 9.

The cover '12 maybe of sufficient weight so as to hermetically seal thereceptacle and it may be secured'in any suitable manner.

It will be noted that thellue forms part of the main exit for theproducts of combustion in the ire box 4, and that the coil.7 within thefille is tlieret reheated to a considerable degree by the products ofcombustion which would otherwise escape. The apparatus is thereforeeconomical.

I claim:

l. The herein described process of recovering wax from the candelillaplant, which consists in subjecting the plants to a dry heat ofapproximately 300O'F., whereby the moisture in the plant is changed intosteam for expelling the wax, subsequently passing dry steam of a greatertemperature downwardly through the mass of plants for mechanicallycarrying downwardly portions of the wax adhering to the, plants, andsubsequently passing a stream of hot water downwardly through the plantsfor washing oil any remaining portions of the' wax.

2. The herein describedprocess of recovering wax from thecandelill'avplant, which consists in subjecting .the plants to a dr \vheat, whereby the moisture in theplant is changed into steam forexpelling the wax, subsequently passing dry steam of a greatertemperature downwardly through the massl of plants for mechanicallycarrying down portions of the wax adhering to the plants, andsubsequently passing a stream of hot water downwardly through the plantstor washing oit any remaining portions of the wax.

wINFI'EL'D s. WATSON.

Vtnesses: 1 Y

L. A. STANLEY, SoLoN C. KEMON.

